iPhone 6 Glass May Incorporate “Native Damage Resistance” (NDR)

Corning prepares to showcase Corning Gorilla Glass 3 at CES

Corning Gorilla Glass promo

If Apple stays true to tradition by adopting the best-of-breed glass for its iPhone displays, the next-generation iPhone 6, or even the rumored iPhone 5S, may see 40% fewer scratches and less cracked screens.

Corning – the company whose highly-resistant glass has been used by Apple ever since the introduction of the iPhone 4 – is gearing up to showcase two new products at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

One of those products is Gorilla Glass 3, a new iteration of the company’s flagship product which incorporates a proprietary feature called Native Damage Resistance (NDR).

Corning reportedly says that NDR reduces the spread of flaws, as well as the appearance of scratches. Corning cites a 40 percent reduction in the number of visible scratches and 1/2 increased strength to its already durable glass.

The New York-based company will disclose full product details in the announcements planned for Monday, Jan. 7, at CES. There is still a great deal of debate as to whether Apple will introduce only one new iPhone model this year.

While this has been the tradition so far, Apple may break this trend this year to launch an incremental iPhone 5S at WWDC and another model, the iPhone 6, at a special event planned for fall 2013.

Apple has so far introduced two incremental iPhone iterations bearing the “S” moniker and sporting only minor revisions to existing features, as well as a couple new additions, such as a faster processor in the iPhone 3GS, and Siri in the iPhone 4S.

However, the public’s perception of the iPhone 5 has been mixed. It’s neither a minor update, nor a revolutionary one, most pundits say.

In other words, the iPhone 5 delivers few innovations in terms of both hardware and software, making it difficult to predict what a potential iPhone 5S could bring to the table.